Australian Vanadium Limited (AVL), the Perth-based company whose project in Western Australia’s Murchison province was given ‘major project status’ by the Australian Federal Government last year, has received another resounding boost with the award of a federal $1.25 million research and development grant to help fund research into improving vanadium processing.
The grant is a significant boost for AVL’s $4.9 million critical metals research and development project in conjunction with Wood, ALS, Curtin University and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).
The aim of the project is to develop solutions to improve vanadium production from Vanadium-Titanium-Magnetite (VTM) deposits. AVL’s Chief Operating Officer, Todd Richardson, said “Being awarded this highly competitive grant further demonstrates the quality of the team we have at AVL and in the partners we have chosen to work with.”
“The results of this research and development project will have far-reaching benefits in the vanadium market globally,” continued Richardson, “and will enable us to develop and operate a low cost, fully integrated vanadium operation here in Western Australia.”
The Federal Government is now clearly invested in the potential of vanadium. Not only did the Govenrment include vanadium on its list of critical minerals, but in October last year, the Research and Development Tax Incentive Scheme awarded Technology Metals Australia, a Western Australian Vanadium explorer, a grant of almost $2.77 million toward its Gabanintha Vanadium Project.
With businesses beginning to utilise vanadium redox flow batteries, such as a Victorian apple orchard looking to expand its PV fleet, and advancing technology at Australian universities such as Monash, vanadium batteries as a significant energy storage system for the energy transition is growing toward a position of respectability.
The AVL project is expected to commence this month and see completion in December 2022.
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